How much did it cost to get $16 million from Toyota?

Remember when Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas filed suit against Toyota in 2010? The more generous critics called it "political grandstanding;" the less generous critics called it "a shakedown lawsuit for the sole benefit of lining their pockets, but with little, if any, benefit for the citizens of Orange County;" and one business leader even likened the D.A. to a talking dog easily distracted by squirrels.

Ah, politics. Rackauckas assured everyone that his intent was purely "to protect consumers from fraudulent, unlawful or unfair business practices," and "to stop Toyota from putting sales over safety by failing to fix dangerous sudden-acceleration defects." You could spy him at Los Angeles Superior Court representing the little people of California as he did battle with the largest automaker in the world – with the help of Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson, the product liability pit bull/law firm in Newport Beach, which got a no-bid contract to assist the D.A. in his prosecution.

So who has the last laugh? Rackauckas was apparently the only county district attorney in America to sue Toyota (that sort of thing is usually the purview of state attorneys general -- 29 of whom did also file suit. California, notably, was not among them).

Perhaps Rackauckas deserves credit for jumping in while the AG was snoozing. Earlier this month, he settled with Toyota for a not-so-paltry $16 million.

We told you that half of it -- $8 million – will go toward gang suppression efforts. And that the other half will go into the D.A.'s account for the prosecution of financial crimes, and to cover legal costs.

Shortly after the Civil Justice Association of California sent a 7-page letter to the D.A. demanding a copy of said fee agreement in 2011, however, it was released. The Robinson firm would get nothing if Orange County did not win. If Orange County was victorious, it would get whatever legal costs were OK'd by the judge. No fixed percentage.

So! OK! We won! What precisely will the lawyers be making for their troubles?

•The settlement filed April 5 dedicates one-quarter of the $16 million Toyota will pay -- $4 million – to legal costs and expenses.

Attorneys are still tallying their receipts, but the D.A.'s office estimates that expenses (experts, travel, etc.) will total about a half-million to $1 million.

That will leave about $3.2 million in legal fees for the Robinson firm and the other firms brought in on the case. How to split that up is for them to suss out, said D.A. chief of staff Susan Kang Schroeder. That's about 20 percent, she said, which is much less than a typical contingency agreement (around 33 percent), and "very reasonable."

Those of you who are good at second-grade math are wondering about the remaining $4 million. That's the money that will go into the D.A.'s account for the prosecution of consumer fraud cases. We'll be getting more detail on that account, and specific plans for spending that $8 million for gang suppression programs, in coming days.

Now, all this still leaves some critics confounded.

"Are you kidding me?" wrote the acerbic Lucy Dunn, president of the Orange County Business Council, on her blog. "Where's the nexus here between auto safety, consumer protection and gangs? ... It appears the DA has put his department's 'profits' as top priority. Does he not see that business competes in a global marketplace, that foreign companies and top employers look at this process and say, 'This is the American legal system? Should we really be investing here, creating jobs here, hiring here?' Nice jurisprudence lesson for a recovering economy."

Schroeder, the DA's chief of staff, gently rejects that argument. Her office worked closely with those bringing class action suits, which garnered damages for individual consumers harmed by Toyota's actions (or lack thereof). If you feel you were harmed and deserve restitution, check out http://www.toyotaelsettlement.com/ and see if you're eligible to join.

And the D.A.'s work also helped ensure that Toyota will be installing brake override systems in some 6 million cars, Schroeder said.

"The reason why we settled this is that, basically, the consumers that had the issues were already compensated in the other lawsuits," Schroeder said. "But for the community, one of the most important public policy issues is the harm that comes from youths getting involved in gang activity. Since there was no way to compensate further the people who were harmed, and we wanted Toyota to be held responsible for what we believe is harm caused to the community, this was one of the ways to do that."

Dunn remains unconvinced. "Mr. Rackauckas is an excellent D.A., but this is a lawsuit that should never have been filed," she said. "If the money was going to public auto safety, I might be inclined to get it. But gangs? I see no nexus."

Now, our editor asked an interesting question (something editors do every now and then): Why didn't any other big D.A.s in California – or heck, just about anywhere else -- sue Toyota to get their$16 million?

We posed that question to the Los Angeles, the San Francisco and the San Diego D.A.'s offices.

"(W)e in SDDA believed that the Toyota case was already being handled capably by the federal transportation agencies and by the private class-action lawsuits that were pending, so we directed our resources elsewhere," said Tom Papageorge, head of the consumer protection unit for the San Diego D.A.'s office.

"This isn't an unusual situation: When determining whether to begin an investigation, we consider whether the matter is already being handling adequately by other agencies or legal actions. Since law enforcement resources are in short supply, we generally focus on cases where no other agency or lawsuit is addressing the problem," Papageorge said.

In February, Toyota agreed to pay $29 million to the29 states and American Samoa as part of a settlement of the lawsuit by the attorneys general. That's about $1 million per state. Rackauckas sued on behalf of all the good people of California, and got a comparably whopping $16 million.

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.